Is there an equivalent "redshift" for cosmic rays due to expansion?

In summary, the concept of "redshift" for light, which describes the stretching of wavelengths due to the expansion of the universe, does not have a direct equivalent for cosmic rays. While cosmic rays are affected by the expansion of the universe, their energy does not decrease in the same way as light. Instead, cosmic rays experience interactions and energy loss through various processes, such as scattering and absorption, which differ from the redshift phenomenon associated with electromagnetic radiation.
  • #1
Suekdccia
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Is there an equivalent "redshift" for cosmic rays due to cosmological expansion?
I've found this discussion (https://astronomy.stackexchange.com...alent-of-the-red-shift-effect-for-cosmic-rays) where it is said that there is an equivalent redshift of cosmic rays due to the cosmic expansion

However, how can this be? Cosmic rays are not EM particles, so their wavelength should not be affected by the expansion of spacetime... And if it is affected by it, how does the expansion of the universe "steal" energy from cosmic rays? Does this then happen for all massive particles?
 
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  • #2
Suekdccia said:
However, how can this be?
In a FLRW universe, the quantity ##a(t) p## is conserved for a test particle. When the scale factor grows, the momentum ##p## decreases.

Suekdccia said:
Cosmic rays are not EM particles, so their wavelength should not be affected by the expansion of spacetime...
Yes they should.

Suekdccia said:
And if it is affected by it, how does the expansion of the universe "steal" energy from cosmic rays?
Energy simply is not conserved in an expanding universe.

Suekdccia said:
Does this then happen for all massive particles?
Yes.
 
  • #3
I can give you a synopsis of the math. How you interpret it is up to you - "expansion of space" is an interpretation, not tied to any mathematical object of GR.

Consider the generation of the cosmic ray far away, in the past light cone of 'us'. It is generated by some unknown "local" process, which as described in a local comoving inertial frame, gives energy E to the cosmic ray. Now parallel transport a tetrad representing that local frame along the cosmic ray path to us. This is local frame near us where the cosmic ray has energy E. However, our local frame will have a large velocity relative to this transported frame, so that we will measure a much lower energy for the cosmic ray.

Note that cosmological redshift can be derived with an essentially identical procedure.

There is no stealing of energy or stretching of light in this derivation.
 
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  • #4
Orodruin said:
In a FLRW universe, the quantity ##a(t) p## is conserved for a test particle. When the scale factor grows, the momentum ##p## decreases.


Yes they should.


Energy simply is not conserved in an expanding universe.


Yes.
So do all massive particles tend to rest in an expanding universe? And does this occur in a universe with Λ=0?
 
  • #5
Suekdccia said:
So do all massive particles tend to rest in an expanding universe? And does this occur in a universe with Λ=0?
Yes, to both. All such massive particles join the local Hubble flow. The Davis and Lineweaver paper on the tethered galaxy problem includes some analysis of this.
It's important to stress that this is not due to some force acting to brake the mass, but as a result of arriving in a region where its erstwhile local velocity begins to match the recession velocity.
 
  • #6
Bandersnatch said:
It's important to stress that this is not due to some force acting to brake the mass, but as a result of arriving in a region where its erstwhile local velocity begins to match the recession velocity
But the particles lose energy arriving at that state. Can they recover it? Or as photons it is lost forever? Is there any form of energy that is not "redshifted" as spacetime expands?
 
  • #7
Suekdccia said:
But the particles lose energy arriving at that state.
The energy of a particle is a local frame dependent concept, not a global one. Saying that the particles lose energy is not really physically meaningful.

Suekdccia said:
Can they recover it?
See above.

Suekdccia said:
Or as photons it is lost forever? Is there any form of energy that is not "redshifted" as spacetime expands?
See above.
 
  • #8
Orodruin said:
In a FLRW universe, the quantity a(t)p is conserved for a test particle. When the scale factor grows, the momentum p decreases.
Does angular momentum also decrease?
 
  • #9
Suekdccia said:
Does angular momentum also decrease?
The magnitude of angular momentum is invariant like mass of a particle. Neither gets red shifted.
 
  • #10
PAllen said:
The magnitude of angular momentum is invariant like mass of a particle. Neither gets red shifted.
Do cosmic rays have angular momentum? Are there processes with a very high/energetic angular momentum in the universe?

Also, when matter is accreted by a black hole, it loses angular momentum to fall from the orbit closer to the black hole, but the orbiting speed of the particles would be higher. Would these velocities also be redshifted by expansion? Or being a local and bound system, expansion does not have any effects?
 
  • #11
Suekdccia said:
Do cosmic rays have angular momentum?
Anything that isn't moving directly towards or away from you has angular momentum around your location.
 
  • #12
Ibix said:
Anything that isn't moving directly towards or away from you has angular momentum around your location.
Yes, but I was thinking of spin angular momentum rather than orbital. The latter is frame dependent, the former is not ( in magnitude - it is in direction, obviously). Cosmic rays being primarily fermions would have intrinsic angular momentum. A spinning pulsar with huge peculiar velocity would also have a spin angular momentum that does not redshift.
 
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  • #13
Suekdccia said:
Also, when matter is accreted by a black hole, it loses angular momentum to fall from the orbit closer to the black hole, but the orbiting speed of the particles would be higher. Would these velocities also be redshifted by expansion? Or being a local and bound system, expansion does not have any effects?
This would be a highly bound system, so expansion would be irrelevant.
 
  • #14
PAllen said:
A spinning pulsar with huge peculiar velocity would also have a spin angular momentum that does not redshift.
And the peculiar velocity would be the one redshifted correct?
 
  • #15
Suekdccia said:
And the peculiar velocity would be the one redshifted correct?
Yes, when it reached us it would have much lower peculiar velocity than it had when it was ejected somehow from a galaxy (for example).

Note, this is exactly what @Bandersnatch explained in post: post #5
 
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FAQ: Is there an equivalent "redshift" for cosmic rays due to expansion?

What is redshift and how does it relate to cosmic rays?

Redshift refers to the phenomenon where the wavelength of light from distant objects is stretched due to the expansion of the universe, causing the light to appear more red. In the context of cosmic rays, which are high-energy particles coming from space, the concept of redshift is not directly applicable because cosmic rays are not electromagnetic radiation and do not experience the same wavelength stretching as light does.

Do cosmic rays experience a form of redshift due to the expansion of the universe?

No, cosmic rays do not experience redshift in the same way that light does. While the universe is expanding, cosmic rays are particles that travel through space and do not have wavelengths that can be stretched. Instead, their energy can be affected by interactions with cosmic magnetic fields and other particles, but this is not equivalent to redshift.

How does the energy of cosmic rays change with distance?

The energy of cosmic rays can decrease as they travel through the universe due to interactions with the cosmic microwave background radiation and other particles. This energy loss is not due to redshift but rather due to processes like pair production, where high-energy photons can create electron-positron pairs, effectively reducing the energy of the cosmic rays as they traverse vast distances.

What factors affect the energy of cosmic rays as they travel through space?

Several factors can affect the energy of cosmic rays, including interactions with the interstellar medium, magnetic fields, and cosmic microwave background radiation. These interactions can lead to energy loss or scattering, but they do not result in a redshift-like effect as seen with light from distant galaxies.

Is there any observable effect of cosmic ray energy loss over cosmic distances?

Yes, there are observable effects of cosmic ray energy loss over cosmic distances. For example, ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) can lose energy through interactions with the cosmic microwave background, which can limit the distance they can travel. This phenomenon is known as the GZK cutoff, named after Greisen, Zatsepin, and Kuzmin, who predicted that UHECRs would not be able to reach Earth from sources beyond a certain distance due to energy loss.

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